FAMILY DINING
I have this persistent fear that I will one day write an enthusiastic
review of some restaurant or merchant only to find out after
publication that the object of my admiration is well known among
neighborhood insiders for a whole variety of nefarious and unsanitary
practices. So before I decided to recommend these restaurants, I took
the precaution of dialing 216-420-TOPP, the City of Cleveland’s hotline
for “Operation Top Quality.” This is an aggressive enforcement campaign
initiated in 1997 by the White administration to ensure that food sold
in Cleveland is “clean, wholesome and fresh.”
In the first two years of the program, 259 restaurants and food stores
were targeted for violations by Building and Housing Court, netting
fines of more than $260,000 — at least some of which benefited the
Cleveland Food Bank. Sadly for those of us who enjoy dining near our
homes on the Near West Side, the highest percentage of violations
occurred right here, in what was then Wards 13 and 14.
I’m not sure whether to be delighted or suspicious, then, to discover
that so far in 2002, no convictions of grocery stores and only one
conviction of a restaurant have been recorded on 420-TOPP, resulting in
fines totaling, well, $900. Thinking that perhaps the program had
simply fallen victim to lean economic times, I called the Bureau of
Environmental Health Services to check. The person answering the phone
assured me that the program was still operational, but that the hotline
is only updated when new information is available.
Okay. So. As far as I know, the following establishments — and
virtually everyone else in the City of Cleveland — are clean as a
whistle.
Frank Sterle’s Slovenian Country House, 1401 E.55, 216.881.4181
One of my favorite architectural “sore thumbs” in the city is the
mountain-top chalet of East 55th Street. Frank Sterle’s is a giant
place, and it needs to be on weekends when all the people come to
polka. The best time to visit with the family is Friday evening, when
live music starts at 6 pm. Enjoy a family-style meal featuring
wienerschnitzel, roast pork and sauerkraut. Although the menu
emphasizes meat dishes, the kitchen also prepares omelettes which
they’ll serve with soup or salad and your choice of potato. Then before
strudel and coffee, hit the dance floor. Even if you wouldn’t know the
difference between a rezijanka and a rhumba, you can enjoy hopping
around with your preschooler while watching couples who really do know
a thing or two about Eastern European folk dance.
Dimitri’s Family Restaurant, 10945 Lorain, 216.252.3636
The late, lamented Big Egg wasn’t everyone’s cup of Sanka. It was a
little more greasy than your average greasy spoon. But there will
always be a niche for the 24/7 restaurant, and Dimitri’s Family
Restaurant is one of the surviving few. Like the Big Egg, Dimitri’s
serves basic diner food and plenty of it. Entrees are unsurprising,
soups are peppery but quite decent, and breakfast is your best bet. And
also like the Egg, at Dimitri’s, you’ll need to run the gauntlet of
smokers in the front room in order to get to a non-smoking booth in the
back room. But our children appreciate the big coloring books and ample
supply of crayons lent to them as soon as they come in, and my husband
and I appreciate the friendly staff, so we’re willing to put up with a
small dose of second-hand smoke in order to enjoy a leisurely,
inexpensive meal in an otherwise comfortable setting.